Secure backups using ssh ?

Greetings:

I have a FreeBSD box that gets backed up nightly.
I would like to perform remote backups for a 2nd box
using the tape drive resource of the first box.

(Open)SSH has been installed on both machines.

What would be the best way to backup the 2nd box over
the internet using ssh encryption. Are there any FreeBSD
ports, etc. for doing backups this way ?
Or should I just use tar ?

Feedback gratefully appreciated!

If you don't have alot of stuffs to backup, just use rsync over ssh. djb (qmail author) recommends rsync over ssh for zone transferring instead of traditonal AXFR. Whatever djb tells you to do, you need to take his advice.
Using tar or not is all about personal preference. Like I said, if you have alot of stuffs to backup, tar them up before transferring.